Similarly Different
by Lynix
Summary: The Lone Wanderer's heroics land her in unfortunate situations and she's starting to lose hope of ever finding her father, but a certain Rivet City Security Chief makes her misadventures and misfortune almost worth it. HarknessxF!LoneWanderer.
1. Don't Be A Hero

**Quick Note: **Hi there! I'm quite new to the world of writing and I greatly appreciate any feedback! I'm a huge fan of the Harkness and Lone Wanderer pairing and I wanted to try to write my own story for them. Thank you for reading and have a gorgeous day!

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Chapter 1: Don't be a hero

She began to drag her feet along the rubble as the wasteland had slowly torn away at her health.

She couldn't give up now. She survived so much with the single combat shotgun she carried with her. Her armor was wearing out and she couldn't wait to run into a raider that she could loot. What a weird thought, wanting to find a raider.

She left the Vault a couple of weeks ago and the memories she made in that short time would haunt her for the rest of her life. She kept thinking that it might get better, but it never did. Despite all the near death experiences, she knew she couldn't give up on her father. He wouldn't have given up on her.

She stared at her Pip-boy, looking at the coordinates she was given that would lead her to a town called Rivet City. She silently begged that she would find her father there, sitting at a desk and staring a computer screen, greeting her with a smile like he always had back in the clinic.

The smell of a fire burning abruptly pulled her out of this reverie. She quickly ran over to a wall to peek over and inspect. She first saw an awful fence made out of sharpened logs and severed limbs that appeared to be human. Not your average white picket fence but it probably served its purpose well. She definitely did not want to discover what was on the other side. Suddenly, she heard an awful cry that was quickly silenced by a loud crack. That's when she noticed the heads of four large super mutants behind the fence, laughing and grunting.

She gripped her shotgun tightly and desperately tried to swallow the huge lump in her throat. It was times like this that she wished she could have just been heartless and not investigate, leaving whatever captives she was sure they had to their fate. This wouldn't be the super-mutants' first victim. It's just the way of the wasteland. She could have easily sneak by unnoticed and carried on to Rivet City, but she couldn't ignore this. She was even starting to get some sort of reputation, mostly perpetuated by Three Dog's broadcasts. She didn't realize being a decent human being would earn her such an honorable title and golden reputation. The wasteland wasn't used to her good deeds. Everyone always suspected that she had some hidden, ulterior motive.

She quickly got over her fear when she heard a man scream for help. She just had to save him, death by super mutants was no way to go. That and she hate super-mutants. She was also sure she'd be rewarded for her heroism and she was in desperate need of it.

She maneuvered the camp unnoticed with ease. The super-mutants were only ever proficient at brute force. They would perish if wasteland survival required any level of intelligence. The V.A.T.S. system guided her shots and her agility took care of the rest. She had to admit, all those year of practicing with the BB gun, hitting at fake targets had really sharpened her reflexes and aim. She remembered hating that Butch discovered the range and insisted on practicing with her. Now she kind of wished he was by her side again. Wow, the wasteland was making her delusional.

She held her breath as she walked past the bags full of raw human limbs. The smell was awful. In all her years at the clinic, she has never encountered such an awful, repulsive smell. She finally reached the captive at the top of the hill. His hands were tied with what looked to be a grin across his face hidden behind a dirty cloth wrapping his mouth. She knelt down and undid the knot to his restraints and lowered the cloth from his mouth, awaiting her praise, and, possibly, a hug. She wasn't going to be greedy, but a hug would be great right about now. What happened instead, she did not expect.

The captive quickly reached for a knife that had been sitting by a bag of gore and held it up to her neck.

"Thanks for taking care of those nasty muties for me, baby, now's about time you gave me your gun and whatever else you got on ya." He held her arm tightly with his grin quickly turning smug on a face that she would just love to slap right about now.

She was furious. This can't be happening, I saved the fucking bastard's life, she thought to herself.

"How about you show me a little bit of gratitude for saving your life and maybe stick that knife up your ass, or would you like me to do that for you?" She felt so proud that she could come up with such a badass comeback. After all, she was only nice to those deserving. She had to be quick and unexpected. She took a deep breath and went to grab the man's balls as tightly as she could. As the man yelled out in pain, she took the chance to slap the knife out of his hand. Just as the knife hit the ground, she turned around to grab her shotgun laying behind her. Her heart dropped when she realized she hadn't reloaded her gun. What a rookie mistake, she thought. She quickly scrambled to find her shells when she suddenly heard a deep, ugly laugh coming from behind. As she turned to the source of the laughter, she felt a horrible, sharp pain. Looking down to her stomach, she saw a deep red stain growing, dirtying the exposed cloth of her leather armor.

"Ass play's not really my thing, baby, and you've got to work on your ball handling. Now, you're gonna give me all your shit like a good little bit-…"

She was down before she could hear the rest. Her world quickly turned dark.


	2. Rude Awakening

Chapter 2: Rude Awakening

"Please… Do you have any water? I'm so thirsty!"

Elsa snapped back to reality. She kept replaying the recent events in her head. She had woken up just an hour ago with a piercing headache and a huge stab wound. Why couldn't she wake up to breakfast in bed just once?

She used some nearby items to patch herself up and stop the bleeding. The fucking "captive" had left her a few miscellaneous items and was even nice enough to leave a couple of purified water bottles, but no stimpaks. Figured. Bastard. She just had to save the day, she just couldn't have let that one go by.

She finally reached what she believed to be Rivet city. It was a couple of days behind schedule, but is was better than lying half-dead in a super-mutant camp waiting for more to come.

She stared down at the beggar while splinting her injured side, relieved to find someone else that might prove that Rivet City was real and hopefully close.

She reluctantly handed the beggar her last two purified water bottles, figuring he would make better use out of them.

She slowly made her way over to the ledge and looked at the void separating her from an old, rusty ship. She stared back at the beggar while he pointed to a tiny white box on one of the broken metal bars. She walked over to investigate and when she pushed the large button on the box, she heard a loud static. An intercom! She didn't think she'd see any of these in the Wasteland. She felt a ping of hope that she might be closer to finding her father.

A voice came out of the intercom as a bridge suddenly swung over from the ship. She had no idea what the voice said, but she proceeded to drag her feet across the bridge, going against every thought in her head screaming DANGER.

She finally noticed a guard standing lazily against an old wall of the ship carrying a rifle. She suddenly started to panic and out-of-habit tried to reach for a nonexistent weapon only to be reminded of the previous events with sharp pain radiating from her side. Suddenly, another guard appeared from the ship.

"Hold it right there. State your business in Rivet City."

She barely managed to let out her next words. "I'm looking for my father."

"And who might your father be? If he lives on this boat, I know him."

She was getting frustrated. She just wanted to see her father again. "I'm sure you don't know him. He's lived in a Vault his whole life."

"Oh yeah? And I'm a fairy princess. You keep up this smart-ass attitude, and you're gonna wind up floating face-down in the river."

She did not have time for this, she thought. It took a lot of willpower to resist punching him square in his… perfect... jaw. "Focus," she whispered under her breath.

She took a deep breathe and explained, "he's disappeared, and I'm just trying to find him. That's all."

"All right, all right. You can go on in. If I hear about any trouble, you're gonna wind up in the river. You get me?"

A smile began to form on her face as something good was finally happening to her. Panic quickly took over as she began to feel increasingly weaker. Unable to hold up the weight of her body, her legs gave in and she was down on the ground before she had time to react and brace herself. Her head slammed down on the metal bridge and she watched helplessly as the guard rushed to her side while she slipped back into the darkness.

She woke up on a cold metal table. It felt familiar.

"Careful now, try not to move around too much."

She looked down to her stomach, noticing a fresh bandage covering her injury, and quickly looked back up to the source of the reassurance.

"That was quite a stab wound. I'm impressed that you were able to take care of it well enough to avoid infection out in the wasteland. Unfortunately you missed the two ribs you seemed to have broken. They don't seem to be from the stab wound, and there is bruising surrounding the fractured ribs." Broken ribs? The bastard captive must have kicked her while she was down. Wasteland hospitality, she thought. "You're quite resourceful, although a stimpak would've been advi- "

The doctor was cut off by a shadow that emerged from the corner. "Would you like to tell me what the hell happened to you? You seem to have been wandering around in the wasteland but you don't have a single thing on you. Careless is what she is, Doctor."

She quickly realized it was the same rude guard at the bridge. Perfect, just what she needs.

"It's a long story that I'd really rather not share with you." She addressed him with a cold and dry tone, trying to avoid the urge to grab the scalpel next to her and attack. She shifted her attention to the doctor, "Thank you, Doctor…"

"Doctor Preston, it's nice to meet you." He said, flashing a wide smile, "You've had a tough couple of days. How are you feeling?"

She had never been asked that in the wasteland before. "I'm… I'm fine. I just need to get out of here." She pushed herself off the table and a jolt of pain forced her back down to the metal floor of the ship.

The guard rushed to grab her. It felt odd, she thought, somehow comforting. She looked up to his face and he stared back. He quickly seemed to be gathering his thoughts and brought her up to her feet. "You'd better stay here while you get better. You can get back to your imaginary vault dad mission when you're feeling better."

The mock in his voice almost felt forced, as though he was hiding something.

"He's not imaginary. I'm telling the truth, you ass." That comment brought on laughter from the doctor that was quickly silenced by a sharp, menacing look from the guard. "Thank you for your, um, help, but I don't have any caps to spare. Mine were… misplaced. I'll just set up camp outside the city."

"Don't be ridiculous." Chimed in Dr. Preston, "Surely we can find you some accommodations until you're healthy. How about the Rivet City quarters?"

The guard laughed at that suggestion but the Doctor gave him a glare that quickly shut him up. Taking a deep breathe, he continued, "Chief Harkness, would you please show my patient to her cot?"

"Yes, Doctor."

Elsa tried to hide her grin, knowing how frustrated this chief was with this resolve. His defeated look was very satisfying.

... ... ... ... ...

He pointed to one of the empty beds in the corner. "That's your bed. You'll be bunking with the rest of the officers. If you cause any trouble, I'm sure none of them would mind dealing with you."

Elsa rolled her eyes and just sat down on the edge of bed, slowly dragging herself up to the head to lie down, wincing from her pain. The pain intensified and forced her to grunt loudly when Harkness tossed a set of grimy wasteland clothes, landing on her stomach.

"We wake up at 5."

"Wait, what?" He was gone before she could properly react. Feeling exhausted, she sat back down in the bed and recalled the events of the last few days, feeling more lonely and defeated than ever.


	3. How Did You Know?

Chapter 3: How did you know?

"No! Don't leave me dad, don't go!" She tried to catch up to her father, who was standing in the distance, surrounded by a pool of blood. Was it his blood? No matter how fast or how long she ran, she couldn't seem to reach him. She finally had to stop when she saw him fall to the ground, slowly mouthing the words I love you.

He was gone. Her chest tightened and it felt like her world was crashing all around her.

She shot up from her bed, breathing hard and covered in sweat. The dream felt far too real and she began to feel sick to her stomach. She knew she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. She didn't want to. It was all she could dream of since she got to Rivet City a couple days ago. She grabbed the clothes by the side of her bed and threw on her dirty, wrinkled shirt and ripped pants and found herself wandering the ship.

She finally found the perfect spot. She breathed in the outside air, enjoying the fog that lingered over the river. It was eerie yet peaceful. She sat down on the edge of the platform and inhaled deeply once more, closing her eyes and listening to the sounds of the wasteland.

... ... ... ...

Harkness was on his usual Wednesday night shift when he heard footsteps. He followed the source to the top deck of the ship towards the farthest exit that led to the Bridge Tower. He watched as a dark figure disappeared behind the door.

"What the hell are you doing out here?"

His question seemed to have startled her and she looked like she could've fallen down to the lower decks. She quickly turned around to see him.

"It's none of your business." She answered coldly. Great, she's in a bad mood, he thought.

"Let me make this clear. You're a guest on this ship and I can easily have you thrown o-"

"Well, why don't you?" She interrupted. "Let the Wasteland deal with me! You'd be doing me a favor."

He stared down at his feet, searching for the words to say.

"Look, I'm sorry. But no one's allowed up here at this hour. Especially not you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, to start off, you came in here with that stab wound, walking around without a gun, asking about your dad that you claim came from a vault, and then you wander off in the middle of the night to stare at…" He looked up to see the view of the wasteland. "…nothing. It's pretty suspicious and I don't I trust you."

"Yeah… no shit," she said before she turned back to stare at the emptiness again. There was a heavy silence between them for a couple more minutes until Harkness finally decided to break it. "So tell me about this vault father of yours, maybe I could help."

"Oh, so you do believe me! You must be a fairy princess after all."

He was confused at first by her words, but quickly remembered that stupid comment he made on the bridge earlier. "Look, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Now how's about you tell me how you ended up here."

"I used the stairs."

"Very funny. I'm serious. What brought you to Rivet City?"

For a moment it seemed like she was seriously considering sharing her story, but instead she just remained silent, staring off into nothing. What a weirdo, he thought.

He was getting frustrated. He didn't know how to comfort people, he was much better at making them feel uncomfortable. "Whatever. Just don't make too much noise out here or you'll wake the mirelurks up."

He started to turn around to get back to his shift, thinking he'll let her break the rules this one time. Before walking through the door though, he remembered an important detail.

"Good night, _Elsa_," putting heavy emphasis on her name to see her reaction.

Though it was quite dark and foggy, it seemed like her brows scrunched up in confusion. At least he hoped so, he had to work hard to figure out her name and he was hoping that it would catch her off guard.

"How did you…?"

He ignored her last question, slamming the door behind him, and walked back to his night shift post with a smirk on his face. It was a small victory, but it was a result of some thorough investigation and he took pride in his hard work.

... ... ... ...

Listening to the holotapes her father left behind filled her with anger and made her feel sick to her stomach. She learned against a wall of the rotunda and fell down to the floor, hiding her face in her hands. She was exhausted. How was she going to make it all the way to Vault 112?

She just had to deal with a bitchy Dr. Li to finally get some information about her father and fight off a horde of super mutants at the Jefferson Memorial though she couldn't decide which was worse.

When she returned to Rivet City, she went back up to her favorite spot on the ship and looked out to the river, taking a deep breathe. She looked back at her pip-boy and began to listen to her father's journal entries again. She finally noticed another holotape that she had downloaded back in Megaton. She had found in in Doc Church's clinic. That dick, she recalled. She decided to listen to it and it confused the hell out of her.

An Android? Did she hear that right? She shook her head and decided she had more important things to worry about right now.

She tried to come up with a plan and wasted no time getting started. She found Harkness in the Market, doing his regular watch, and dragged him to a corner by his arms.

Looking obviously annoyed and angry, he yelled, "What the hell are you doing? I'm on duty!"

"I need your help with something"

He sighed and responded, "Fine, make it quick."


	4. The Plan

Chapter 4: The Plan

"I'm going to Vault 112 to look for my father."

"You sure Dr. Preston checked for concussions before he discharged you?"

"I just need you to help me get some weapons, seeing as I lost all of mine…"

"I can't just give you our weapons. We're running low on resources since the caravans decided to stop showing up."

"I'm a good shot, I could help you with that."

"With what?"

"The caravan issue! It's because of the new mutant camps close to Rivet City. I can help you clear them out and bring back the caravans."

"No. I remember the last time you tried to infiltrate a mutant camp."

"Oh come on, I let my guard down. How could I have known that captive was an asshole?"

"No. We'll figure out the caravan issue another way. For the time being you can help out here for some spare caps and buy yourself a gun from Flak and Scharpnel."

"Ugggh, that'll take too long! Please, Harkness, I can't do this without you."

"You mean you can't do this without a gun."

"Well, yeah. Have you seen me with a gun?" He gave her an odd look, remembering that she first showed up completely unarmed. She seemed to catch on to his confusion and sighed loudly. "...trust me, it'll be easy!"

Harkness finally agreed, knowing that he would soon regret his decision. Despite his many doubts about this plan, he couldn't deny that Rivet City was in desperate need for the trade caravans to return. The market was starting to look desolate.

"Yay!" She jumped up and down like a child hyped up on sugar, which caught the attention of many in the market.

Harkness tried to hold back his laughter at this sight, instead clearing his throat loudly, which seemed to make her aware of the odd stars the market was giving her. "Sorry… Meet me in the Security office at 8?"

... ... ... ... ...

Harkness was sitting his desk in the security office to go over some of the paperwork. He began to read a report about Bannon's complaint about the chem addict, Paulie Cantelli, in the Market. It seemed Mr. Fancy-Pants was having some issue with the chem head. Mr. Stick-up-his-butt apparently saw the chemie steal money out of his register, supposedly to buy some more chems, which Harkness thought was ironic since Mr. Cantelli's wife owns a chem shop. Why not go directly to the source? The report seemed to go on forever, but he persisted, feeling a strong sense of duty and responsibility, even if he wanted to tear his hair out half the time.

As he read on though, his mind started to wonder to other things, finally settling on a topic that seemed to hold strongly his attention: Elsa. She was an odd individual and he had a bad feeling that trouble seemed to follow her. He knew he had to keep an eye on her before she began to stir things up too much in his city. She did have a wonderful smile though, he learned today. He thought back to when he had carried her to Dr. Preston's clinic the first time they met. He had admired her attractive features while she laid on the examination table, a beauty so rare to find in the wasteland. Her hair wasn't quite blonde and wasn't quite brunette, but some satisfying mixture. She had a small, defined nose and nice, full lips. He was a bit surprised by how much he has just concentrated on her features.

A knock at his office door quickly snapped him back to reality and before he gave permission to enter, Elsa walked in full armor, carrying a Rivet City guard assault rifle.

"W-where did you get that? That doesn't belong to you!"

"Oh calm down, I'm just borrowing them from Danvers, she won't mind when she finds out what we're doing." He couldn't believe she was still so seriously considering this mission.

"Elsa, I don't kn-"

"No!" She interrupted. "You promised. We have to do this. If you don't come with me, I'll just go on my own. I already found myself a gun and armor."

"Look, I'm sorry, I just think that we're rushing through this without a plan."

"Ow, Harkness, you underestimate me. That's what I came here to discuss. Follow me."

As she walked ahead, his gaze started to wander south, noticing how amazing she looked in the uniform pants. He quickly shook the idea out of his head and tried to focus back to his job. Damn it, he had a bad feeling he was going to have a hard time concentrating.

... ... ... ... ...

Harkness somehow found himself staking out a mutant camp close to Rivet City. It now made sense why caravans stopped trying to trade with them. These camps were scattered and filled with mutants.

"Okay. You ready?" She turned around to look at him.

"Ready for what? You said this was recon to figure out a plan or strategy or whatever."

"Yeah… I lied." She pulled out her rifle and aimed for the first super mutant, hitting him at the almost perfect center of his forehead. Harkness stared wide-eyed at how clean the shot was and was disturbed by the slight vibration he felt when the mutant fell to the ground. How heavy were these beasts?

Elsa gave him a quick smirk and rushed into the camp, eliminating one mutant at a time. Harkness barely had time to react when one of the mutants charged towards him. He quickly rolled to the side to avoid the collision and fired a few shots into the mutant's back with his powerful and trusty plasma rifle. The Mutant quickly turned into a pile of goo a few meters away from him. Releasing the breathe he had been holding, he began to relax. Moments later though, he felt something touch his shoulder and he quickly turned around, gun ready and aimed, only to meet Elsa's hazel eyes staring contently back at him.


End file.
